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Mayor Holds “Neighborhood Safety Summit”

This Saturday, October 15th, 2011 at Laney College, Mayor Jean Quan is hosting a Neighborhood Safety Summit. STIC encourages you to attend and make your voice heard. The invitation reads, “Together we can stop the violence…Sharing strategies for stronger neighborhoods.” One of our biggest continuous victories over the last year and a half has been the vocal power of the people. Together we have been saying loud and clear: Oakland wants REAL, SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS to violence. Oakland cannot police its way out of poverty.

We are at a real turning point in our fight against gang injunctions. Last week we stopped City Council from expanding gang injunctions to East and West Oakland and from hastily imposing youth curfews and anti-loitering laws. Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts resigned this Tuesday. We see Batts’ resignation, along with the resignation of former City Attorney John Russo back in May, as an opportunity to address public safety in a way that doesn’t rely on costly, ineffective, and destructive policing measures – such as gang injunctions. At this juncture, organizations throughout the city are loud and clear that we need expanded programs and services for youth, an end to education cuts, and job creation as real and sustainable solutions for addressing violence in Oakland.